Real Madrid returned to winning ways at home to Las Palmas but Girona are the new surprise leaders of LaLiga after they made it six league victories in a row.
Girona had moved up to second at the weekend with a thrilling 5-3 success over Mallorca, but they trailed after 49 minutes at Villarreal.
Daniel Parejo put the hosts ahead from 12 yards but Artem Dovbyk produced an equaliser only seven minutes later.
Five minutes after the leveller and Girona had completed the turnaround when ex-Manchester City defender Eric Garcia headed home a cross by Alex Garcia.
It proved enough to earn the Catalonia outfit, who are part-owned by City Football Group, a 2-1 victory to overtake Barcelona at the LaLiga summit.
Real Madrid were made to work hard for their 2-0 victory over Las Palmas but Brahim Diaz’ first goal for the club in the third-minute of first-half stoppage time broke the deadlock at the Bernabeu.
It was 2-0 soon after half-time when Joselu continued his fine form with a 54th-minute header from Rodrygo’s centre.
Athletic Bilbao are fourth but they had to settle for a point following an entertaining 2-2 draw at home to Getafe.
Yuri Berchiche opened the scoring for Bilbao in the fifth-minute but Oihan Sancet was sent off at the end of the first half and Gaston Alvarez levelled for Getafe in the 51st-minute after an assist by Manchester United loanee Mason Greenwood.
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Inaki Williams put 10-man Athletic back in front before Juanmi Latasa had the final say on proceedings with an 83rd-minute leveller at San Mames.
Real Sociedad are fifth thanks to a 32nd-minute effort by Carlos Fernandez in a 1-0 win at Valencia, who finished the match with a numerical disadvantage after Selim Amallah was sent off.
Meanwhile, Cadiz and Rayo Vallecano played out a goalless draw with Abdul Mumin given his marching orders for Vallecano late on.
Inter Milan’s perfect start to the new Serie A season ended after Sassuolo came from behind to clinch a 2-1 win at the San Siro.
Denzel Dumfries put Simone Inzaghi’s men in front before half-time and they looked on course for a sixth straight victory, but Nedim Bajrami silenced the home crowd with a 54th-minute equaliser.
It got worst nine minutes later when Domenico Berardi rifled home from the edge of the area to put Sassuolo ahead.
Inter’s city rivals AC Milan were indebted to English duo Fikayo Tomori and Ruben Loftus-Cheek after they claimed a 3-1 win at Cagliari.
Zito Luvumbo put Cagliari ahead before the half an hour mark, but Noah Okafor scored for Milan in the 40th minute and Tomori fired home from a corner on the stroke of half-time.
Loftus-Cheek extended Milan’s lead on the hour mark when he arrowed home an effort from 25-yards after good play by Christian Pulisic out wide to help Stefano Piolo’s team move level with leaders Inter on 15 points from six games.
Napoli returned to winning ways with Victor Osimhen able to put his social-media storm to one side to score in a 4-1 win over Udinese.
Osimhen had threatened legal action against Napoli over a post on the club’s TikTok which appeared to mock the forward but he let his football do the talking with a smart 39th-minute finish in Naples.
Piotr Zielinski, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and substitute Giovanni Simeone were also on target while Lazar Samardzic grabbed a late consolation for Udinese.
Matias Vecino and Mattia Zaccagni struck in the second half to earn Lazio a 2-0 triumph over Torino while Atalanta are up to fourth following a hard-fought 1-0 win at Verona.
St. Louis City v LA Galaxy: Reus sets sights on silverware after dream start
Marco Reus is desperate to bring silverware to the LA Galaxy after making a flying start to his time in MLS, with St. Louis City the destination for his first road game on Sunday.
Reus registered a goal and an assist on debut last week as the Galaxy beat Atlanta United 2-0, maintaining their grip on top spot in the Western Conference.
The Galaxy are five points clear of local rivals Los Angeles FC at the top of the standings ahead of Sunday's trip to St. Louis, who are 13th and 10 points adrift of the playoff picture.
Reus' arrival in Los Angeles has caused plenty of fanfare, but he is focused solely on the team's collective aims.
"It's not about me, it's about the team," he said. "We want to be champions. So we take it game by game.
"Besides the traffic, it's really amazing. The people are so friendly. The weather, it's really nice. When you wake up in the morning and the sun is shining, you start the day differently.
"So I'm really, really happy every morning I come into the dressing room. I'm just happy and excited."
St. Louis played out a thrilling 4-4 draw with the Portland Timbers last week, twice throwing away a two-goal lead to leave interim coach John Hackworth bewildered.
"Really don't know what to say," Hackworth said. "It's hard to imagine coming to a place like this and scoring four goals, being up, and then just losing one-versus-one defensive battles.
"Sometimes, the number of goals you give up, or the number of goals you score, can hide a lot of the transition moments.
"An easy way to prevent some of these defensive miscues from happening is to just be better with the ball."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
St. Louis City – Eduard Lowen
Lowen scored his fourth goal of the MLS season last time out, converting from the penalty spot as St. Louis drew 4-4 with the Timbers.
Only Joao Klauss, with five goals, has outscored him for St. Louis this term.
LA Galaxy – Marco Reus
Reus is one of 20 players in MLS history to record a goal and an assist on his regular-season debut.
He is also the fifth Galaxy player to do so, after Steven Gerrard, Andreas Herzog, Giovani dos Santos and Sasha Victorine. No other team have had more than two players achieve the feat.
MATCH PREDICTION – DRAW
The Galaxy have won 10 of their last 13 regular-season matches, the first time they have done so in a single season since 2011. LA have not recorded 11 wins in a span of 14 matches within a single regular season in the post-shootout era (since 2000).
It would be no surprise to see the points shared in this one, though. All three meetings between St. Louis and the Galaxy have ended level, all with different scorelines (1-1, 2-2, 3-3).
St. Louis have only won one of the last six matches in which they have held the lead in regular-season play dating back to the beginning of June (four draws, one defeat).
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
St. Louis City – 35.8%
LA Galaxy – 38.1%
Draw – 26.1%
Raphinha hails Barcelona after statement win over Valladolid
Barcelona forward Raphinha believes the team have laid down a statement of their intent by starting the season with four straight wins in LaLiga.
Raphinha scored the first hat-trick of his career and also delivered two assists on Saturday, as Barca crushed Real Valladolid 7-0 at Camp Nou.
Hansi Flick's side already possess a four-point cushion at the top of the table after also recording victories over Valencia, Athletic Bilbao and Rayo Vallecano.
Raphinha believes their results have demonstrated the club got things right in the transfer market, telling Movistar: "Today's game has shown that there is no need for anyone else to come. We are very happy because of that.
"We are in very good shape. The team is working hard. Today's result shows what we are working for.
"We saw that the coach was on the sidelines asking for more goals and that's our mentality.
"We are hungry and want to score as many goals as we can. When we are dominant like we have been, the best way to respect our rivals is not taking the foot off the gas."
Raphinha was one of the players who faced criticism during Barca's trophyless 2023-24 campaign and was rumoured to be on his way out ahead of the new season.
The Blaugrana again battled financial restrictions throughout the window, allowing Ilkay Gundogan to leave in order to secure the registration of new arrival Dani Olmo.
With his future now certain, Raphinha is keen to nail down a starting spot and contribute on a regular basis.
"I don't know if today's was my best game, but it's certainly among my best. I will try to play even better and as much as I can," the Brazilian said.
"I'm very happy to be able to help the team. I feel good. I knew that this season would be very important for me. I'm looking for my best version to help my team-mates and be more confident."
Lazio 2-2 Milan: Leao salvages draw but Rossoneri still winless
Rafael Leao came off the bench to earn Milan a 2-2 draw with Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico on Saturday, but Paulo Fonseca's side are still without a Serie A win this season.
Milan were in front at the break through Strahinja Pavlovic's eighth-minute goal, the Serbian rising highest to power home a header from Christian Pulisic's corner.
However, Lazio hit back in the second half with Valentin Castellanos and Boulaye Dia scoring in quick succession.
Nuno Tavares' first-time ball into the centre was met by the unmarked Castellanos to level in the 62nd minute, then Dia tapped another Tavares cutback home to put the Biancocelesti ahead four minutes later.
Fonseca reacted by sending on four substitutes, and those changes had a swift impact as three of them combined for the leveller.
Theo Hernandez – who joined Leao in being dropped from the start – picked out Tammy Abraham, and his lay-off allowed Leao to escape Tavares to fire past Ivan Provedel.
The game was preceded by an emotional tribute to the man who led Lazio to their last league title, Sven-Goran Eriksson, who died at the age of 76 on Monday.
A Lazio shirt bearing the Swede's name was displayed on the home bench, while a banner held up by the home fans read: "You brought us to the top of the world... Have a good trip Mr. Sven."
Data Debrief: Milan's slow start continues
New Milan boss Fonseca is already under pressure after overseeing a return of two points from his first three league games at the helm.
It is the first time the Rossoneri have drawn two of their opening three matches in a Serie A season since 2011-12, when they also drew two and lost one,
They went on to finish second that season, just four points adrift of champions Juventus. If a title challenge is to take place this term, rapid improvements are needed.
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